Juxtaposed
by 13eyond The Boundaries
Summary: "They're dead… they're all dead, human. They can't hurt you anymore… you're safe…" (Contains mature content, i.e. rape, sex, blood, gore, violence, ideologically sensitive material, homosexuality [yaoi]. For all intents and purposes, this is an AU... Alternate Universe. May have HTTYD2 spoilers in the future. You have been warned.)
1. Chapter 1

This was the last thing he'd expected to be smack-dab in the middle of tonight. Had he known that a relaxing stroll through the woods was going to turn into him being pinned to the back wall of the Meade Hall between two vikings drunk off their asses… Hel, he'd have just stayed home. Normally, his clever mind, quick wit, and sharp tongue could weasel him out of anything, but reasoning with these drunkards was beyond impossible. The back of his neck prickled with goosebumps from the cold, but despite that, he was sweating just a little; not from cold, but fear.

There were two meaty hands on either side of his head, firmly planted on the wall. They wouldn't budge even a centimeter… he'd already tried. The fellow viking in front of him that had him blocked in was a large, burly man with wild brown hair, and a thick layer of stubble covered his face. He and his friend, the viking to his left that was keeping a close watch on him, had come on a ship from somewhere. They'd only been around for a month thus far, and they were already showing their ugly sides— literally, he thought with a shiver of disgust as the one who had him cornered stripped off his own tunic and fur vest.

The boy made yet another feeble attempt at escape, and nearly succeeded as the guy was still caught up with taking his shirt off. He gave a disoriented shout as he noticed the boy getting away, but just before he could escape around the corner where there was more light, the guy's friend grabbed him up by the back of his shirt collar. He started to shout in surprise, but the front of his shirt collar choked him and he ended up coughing instead. At first, he tried flailing around, but only for a few seconds before he realized it was useless.

He was by no means a pushover, or even scrawny (at least not since he'd filled out). It was just that, when faced with these monstrous men, he was but a mouse in comparison.

He was roughly slammed into the wall. He blinked away the stars in his vision to see the shirtless viking was now completely nude. His… girth… was definitely proportionate to the rest of him— in other words, _it was freaking huge_. It didn't take a lot of brain power to know what he was about to do.

Realization set in. His struggles renewed.

"By the severed hand of Týr!" he shouted. "You don't actually intend to go through with this, do you?!"

"Shut yer trap."

A hand was slapped over his mouth. His head hit the wall.

**Crack.**

"Odin, how stupid can ye be? It's not as fun if they're dead," the naked one snapped.

"I was only roughin' 'im up a bit."

"Yeah, well, move over. I wanna play with 'im."

Frankly, _he_ didn't want to 'play' with anyone. The guy pinning him was shoved aside. Not that it mattered. He was still held in place. This time by the naked one.

A rough hand was on his cheek. The touch was almost gentle. It sickened him. He closed his eyes tightly. The sensation was gone.

**Smack.**

"No closing yer eyes… I want ye to watch."

Reluctantly, he opened them. He looked anywhere but his face. Anywhere but down. Anywhere but at _that. _He was touched again. The skin of his belly was being ravished under his shirt. He bit his bottom lip as he tried to take his mind to a better place. It worked for a moment.

He was viciously ripped away from his fantasy of happy thoughts when he felt the chill air of Berk biting at his thighs. Still, he didn't look. He didn't dare.

Those hands rubbed over his thighs, warming them slightly, but he drew no comfort from the feeling. Not when he knew what was to come.

"Awfully girly looking legs ye got here…" the viking whispered huskily into his ear. He gagged at the repugnant scent of mead on his breath.

"Get on with it already!"

"Ye can't rush a good thing," the viking snapped in his friend's direction, "I was just gettin' to it."

Something warm rubbed up against his ass. He made the mistake of looking down and got an eyeful. No. No, no, _no!_ That wasn't going to _fit!_ It just wouldn't!

He looked back up, a glint of desperation shining in his eyes, "You don't have to do this!"

One of the man's hands roughly gripped his chin as the other held his dick up against his entrance.

"Shh… I'm gonna make ye feel _reeeal_ good, girlie…"

"No. No, please—" he started to say, but gasped and choked.

The pain was indescribable. Having his head slammed into the wall or his face slapped had been nothing in comparison. It was even worse than the time a gronckle had body slammed him into the stone wall of the arena (and that had knocked him out for half a day and given him a headache for several days after).

The only conclusion he could logically come to was that he was being ripped in half.

His mouth opened in a silent scream that just wouldn't come out. His eyes were clenched shut again. He was afraid he'd cry if he opened them. His face was slapped again, same spot. He was pretty sure there'd be a very dark bruise in the morning, should he survive to see it.

"What did I say to ye about closing yer eyes?!" his attacker demanded, shoving in deeper as he did.

He groaned from the pain, but managed to open his eyes just a little.

The guy leered, "Yeah, that's a good girlie. Ye got some pretty eyes there."

It hadn't been the first time he'd heard someone compliment his eyes. His eyes were one of his few attributes he prided himself in. Although, this particular compliment didn't make him feel right at all. It didn't even feel like a compliment. He almost felt like he was being mocked.

He felt as the man started to move again.

"N-No… please… don't m—"

His plea went ignored as the man pulled nearly all the way out and shoved all the way back in. Every centimeter of movement seemed to be ripping him apart, little by little. He was clenching up, which didn't seem to help the matter.

"Ungh… so tight, girlie," the man growled.

His eyes started to water, threatening a flood of tears. Of all the days, this just had to happen on his birthday. _Worst birthday present ever._

The man thrust in and out, his speed steadily increasing. The only consolation of this all was that as his own blood had made a bit of lubrication on the man's dick, easing the pain, if only a little.

"Come on, aren't ye enjoyin' it, girlie?" the man asked with a slap to his ass. The man grabbed hold of his hips and thrust in hard at an angle he hadn't tried before.

He cried out, not in pain, but pleasure. He was disgusted with himself as the moan came from his own throat. As pleasure nearly masked all his pain, that was the last straw. The tears silently flowed down his face. He was a disgrace. He'd hoped to keep some of his dignity, even though he was being raped— and by a man— if he could at least tell himself he didn't enjoy it. A man was not meant to be dominated. A man wasn't supposed to be fucked like this. A man wasn't meant to _enjoy_ this.

He should be in pain. He should be suffering. This was wrong.

He grit his teeth, knocking his head back against the wall as he tried to block everything out. It was no good. He felt that spot being stimulated again, again, and again. It was maddening, and even more so when he felt a grubby hand wrap around his own dick, pumping it sloppily.

"… no more, no more… please… no more… plea… no…" he said under his breath over and over as if it were a chant. His voice cracked.

"Ye can't fool me, girlie. Yer a slut, aren't ye?" the viking growled.

He shook his head violently, "No… no… n-nnn-ahh—!"

He moaned as he came, against his will, in the viking's hand. The man smirked as he wiped his hand off on the boy's shirt, giving a few more strong thrusts before shooting his load inside. Moments later, his dripping dick slipped out, and semen leaked down his leg. The wet sensation of it leaking down his leg, combined with the burning sensation throughout the inside of his ass caused him to start crying again in shame.

"Naugh'y lil slut, gettin' off on gettin' insulted…"

"I-I didn't…" he panted, hands clenched into fists at his sides, though he dared not use them.

"Come on, Johan, ye had yer fun. Let me have a go at 'im."

The vile viking, now labeled Johan, looked back at his friend, "Right ye are, Arnstein. He's all yers."

He whimpered as he watched Arnstein approach. The brute was only slightly smaller than Johan. He'd have tried to run, but when he did, his shaking legs finally gave out on him. He fell on his hands and knees.

"Oh, is _that_ how you want to go at it?"

He shook his head, too weak to do much more, and whispered, "Please… no more…"

A heavy weight fell on his back, and he gulped, fearful of what more they could dish out on him. A hand guided his face to look back at Arnstein.

"What was that? 'Fraid I couldn't hear ye," he leered down at the boy.

"Please, no more," he whispered again. He forced himself not to cry for the third time.

Arnstein chuckled darkly, "Hear that, Johan? The boy says '_no more'_," he said, mocking him in a condescending tone.

Johan laughed with Arnstein, "Seems the boy don't know who's in charge here."

"Mind if I rough 'im up a bit more?"

"Had my fun, I did. Do as ye please."

By that point, the boy was shivering from head to toe, both from cold (possibly hypothermia) setting in, and the raw fear that made a pit in his stomach. That, and even his hands and knees weren't doing such a fine job of holding him up anymore.

Next thing he knew, he felt the sharp bite of a blade dig into his calf. He wasn't able to hold back a scream of pain as he felt the blade dig deeper, nor did he even think he wanted to. He crawled forward on his feeble limbs, aching from cold and exhaustion, futile attempt though it was.

The boy struggled to his feet and tried to run again. He thought that maybe he'd finally be able to escape from the brutes. He was only fooling himself— they had easily caught him the first time, and that was before he'd been wounded so badly. Like a cat toying with a mouse before going in for the kill, they were toying with him. Batting him around. Watching him struggle.

They let him run farther than he'd managed to get before. Obviously, they had no reason to believe he could truly escape.

His original intent had been to make a break toward the front of the Meade Hall, but that would be what his attackers expected… the game of cat and mouse would no doubt end sooner rather than later, should he choose that route. Panicking, he looked around, then saw the trees nearby. There's an idea. The wilderness. He just might have a chance if he could go there. Not much, but more than any other chance. If nothing else, maybe he could find a wild dragon that would kill all of them, so at least he'd sort of take his attackers down with him.

He made a break for the trees, somehow managing to pick up some speed as he ran. Arnstein and Johan were momentarily stumped on what to do, as he really had managed to do something beyond their expectations. They didn't know about the forest being infested with wild dragons almost constantly. They thought there'd be no harm in letting him run off to a place that, from their perspectives, was even more secluded than where they were already.

They followed the boy at a leisurely pace, but found that they had to put forth real effort after a few minutes. The boy was _somehow_ running really fast suddenly.

Nothing mattered anymore. No pain. No fear. No embarrassment. Nothing but pure adrenaline. He managed to forget about everything else but escaping in the present time. Past and future could wait.

He tripped over fallen branches, tree limbs, roots, and rocks, here and there, but that barely slowed him down. He was determined to escape these madmen.

When he finally realized he was outrunning them though, he tripped over a tree root. He went down. He fell on his wounded leg, and winced as bits of stone and dirt ground into the open gash.

Every second counted. He had to get back on his feet. He got up, but fell down again. A sharp pain made itself known in the back of his leg. The same one that had already been injured. Arnstein had thrown his knife at him with deadly precision. All his pain came rushing back to him as the adrenaline rush started to ebb away. He grabbed the handle of the knife, ripping it from the back of his leg, he clutched it tightly in his hands as if it was his last line of defense. Hel, it _was_ his last line of defense.

He gripped the knife more tightly to ease the trembling in his hands, took a deep breath.

"Odin help me…" he whispered to himself. Nothing short of a miracle would save him at this rate.

The men had caught up quickly, and were now closing in. As Johan drew closer still, there was the sound of a twig snapping somewhere off the beaten path. His heart sped up in the hopes for the aforementioned miracle. When out from the brush jumped nothing more than a small hare, his hopes were dashed.

His hands started shaking again with Johan a mere two feet away from him.

"Lookit the lass shakin' like a babe," Johan cackled, "yer in fer it now, girlie."

He lifted the knife so it was level with his nose, pointing it at Johan, "S… stay away! I-I'm warning you!"

"And what do ye expect to do with a tiny dagger like that?" Johan snorted. "Ye best be puttin' that down, ye would."

He refused to listen. He narrowed his green eyes, glaring at the man. He no longer wanted to listen to this man.

Johan gave him a sneer, "Wrong choice, lass," he hissed, then commented more loudly to his friend, "girlie here's still got spunk. Wanna rough 'im up some more?"

No answer.

"Well?"

Silence.

"Why aren't ye saying anything?!" he snapped as he whipped around to look at Arnstein.

A little curious, the boy too looked in Arnstein's direction. He leaned ever so slightly to the right to see around Johan's large form. He'd been expecting many reasons for Arnstein's eerie quietness, but what his and Johan's eyes were greeted with was last on that list.

By Odin, it was the worst thing he'd seen yet. Or rather, didn't see.

Arnstein was still where he'd been before. Well, at least part of him was. Particularly the bottom half, and a severed hand in the mess of blood nearby what remained of his body. Some of the organs were strewn out on the ground, the blood darkening the dirt where it could be seen in the bright moonlight of the full moon.

He'd never seen anything like it, but the only explanation for the phenomenon was that a dragon had done it. The real question was how it had happened without him or Johan noticing. Had they both truly been that distracted?

Johan was put off by the unprecedented death of his friend, but was too caught up in his lust and drunken stupor to really give a damn.

Johan rounded on the boy, "_**You**_," he hissed with such malice, "this is all _yer_ fault."

Apparently not in enough of a stupor to completely forget.

"B-but—"

Johan took a step forward, "Ye're gonna pay, lass… I'll be sure of that."

He inched back, brandishing the knife in his hands.

"You don't want to do this! You're not thinking rationally- the dragon who did that could still… be… n-n… n…"

"What?" Johan demanded.

The boy's eyes were trained upward, his expression a cross between complete awe and mortification.

"What is it?!" Johan demanded once more, but realized he wasn't going to get an answer.

Slowly, he followed the boy's gaze up. There was nothing. The boy was trying to play tricks on him, he was sure.

"Ye think ye can fool me like that?!" he shouted, raising a fist in preparation to knock the boy around.

The boy's eyes trailed downwards, entranced, completely unaware of what Johan was doing or saying.

_Drip… drip, drip… drip…_

Disgusted, Johan wiped the thick, sticky liquid off his shoulder with his hand, then gazed down at his palm. It was a strange transparent liquid with a pale reddish hue to it.

As he was about to lift his palm to his nostrils to sniff it, in attempt to discern what the Hel it was, there was an odd sound from above. He couldn't comprehend what it was at first. It came again. A foreign… rumbling… sort of sound.

He looked up again with wide eyes. There was a dark silhouette. It could have been a dragon. Within the silhouette were two acidic glowing green eyes. As Johan's eyes met those of the beast, the narrowed slits for pupils rapidly dilated, then narrowed slowly back to slits.

That couldn't be good…

The glint of white, dagger-like teeth could barely be seen in the moonlight. More of that liquid from before dripped down, hitting Johan's cheek. It was now clear that the liquid was, in fact, saliva.

There was another rumbling sound, followed by a loud snarl. The silhouette fell upon Johan.

The boy crawled back farther from the carnage, closing his eyes tightly as he assumed the fetal position, arms covering his face. He pressed his palms into his ears, trying to block out the agonized cries of Johan. He deserved it, but that didn't mean the boy enjoyed watching or hearing one bit of it. Besides, he was next.

It seemed as if the screams only got louder the harder he pressed his palms into his ears. He almost wished death just so it would stop.

With a last _crunch_, it eventually came to an end. The forest was as silent as it had been to begin with, as if no one had ever disturbed it.

He didn't dare sit up or open his eyes to look around. Part of him just wanted to stay in the fetal position, much like a child would hide under a blanket to hide from the imaginary monsters… only this one was real.

Even though his eyes weren't open, he had a sudden feeling as if his surroundings had gotten darker. Something slightly rough, but very warm touched his back.

_**"They're dead… they're all dead, human. They can't hurt you anymore… you're safe…"**_

Surprised at the voice he heard, he opened his eyes wide to look at the source of it. There it was. The dragon. It was curled around his back, a large wing draped over top of him. The boy felt ridiculously warm now, especially in comparison to how cold he'd been moments before. This wasn't just any dragon. It was the spawn of lightning and death— a Night Fury.

He had so many questions that he was much too exhausted to even think of asking. Most of them began with 'why' and 'how'.

_**"Human, what is your name?"**_

"Hiccup," he managed to choke out with a sob he couldn't hold back. A couple of tears leaked out, but he managed not to break down into full-blown crying. The boy couldn't believe he was actually saved. A dragon had come and saved him at the last possible minute.

**_"Hiccup… you would not be able to pronounce my name. You may call me Toothless."_**

He smiled wryly, "Nice to meet you, Toothless."

**_"You must rest now. I will keep you safe and warm while you sleep."_**

As he was told this, Hiccup realized he truly was feeling tired. He was quite exhausted after the ordeal that night.

"I guess this isn't… the worst birthday after all…" he murmured as he drifted off to sleep.

_**"Hiccup…"**_ the dragon whispered as the boy slept,_** "… I've finally found you…"**_


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup awoke to the sound of light snoring. Dragons snored. Who knew? He'd never been around a dragon that let its guard down enough to sleep before, so he certainly did not.

He rolled over and crawled out from under Toothless's wing. Putting weight on his right leg was still really painful due to the two wounds from the knife last night, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He glanced around, trying to get an idea of where he was. The corpses of his attackers from the night before looked even more gruesome in the light of the early morning. None of the surrounding landmarks seemed familiar. He'd never been this deep in the wilderness.

_**"Oh, you're awake?"**_

Hiccup flinched, surprised by the sound of Toothless's voice. He could have sworn the dragon was deeply sleeping not two seconds before. He turned and looked back at the Night Fury, unsure why he found himself making a face like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Yeah, I've been awake for a while now," he replied.

The dragon stood, shaking his wings out. _**"That's good. I can take you out of this forest then."**_

Hiccup made no comment on this. Secretly, he was relieved that Toothless was going to help him find the way to the exit of the forest. He also felt like an idiot for even thinking of trying to find his way out on his own— it was practically suicide. Just because Toothless took kindly to him didn't mean all the _other_ wild dragons would.

At first, he insisted on walking on his own, but Toothless told him it was stupid to put so much strain on the wounds in his leg when he didn't need to. Reluctantly, he accepting the offer to ride on Toothless's back. As Toothless walked, Hiccup was taking in the sights. He realized that he'd run much farther than he'd originally assumed. He could only imagine just how lost he'd have gotten had he wandered through the woods aimlessly, trying to find his way back home. Not a pretty thought.

_**"What are you thinking of?"**_

Hiccup shrugged, "Nothing much. Just of how lost I'd be if you weren't helping me."

_**"I'm glad you didn't wander off without me."**_

"Uh… was it that obvious?"

_**"I never sleep too deeply away from home. Bad things have happened."**_

Hiccup was shocked at the thought of anything being able to catch a dragon off guard.

"Really? Like what?" he asked Toothless.

The dragon merely shook his head, dismissing the question. Must have been a touchy subject. Hiccup knew better than to pry into those sorts of things.

"Forget I asked," he laughed, "although, I do have a question I was really wondering the answer to."

_**"Go on…"**_

"Last night… those vikings who were chasing me… For some reason, you saved me from them," he murmured, "why?"

A long silence followed his question. He'd started to consider telling Toothless that he didn't have to answer that question either when he spoke.

**_"Not all dragons are heartless as you think, you know. Most of us don't like seeing children of any kind suffer. That includes humans."_**

Ironically, this really was news to Hiccup. He'd been raised to believe that dragons were killing machines with no sentient thoughts or consciences of their own. It had admittedly crossed his mind from time to time that his elders could be mistaken, but he'd never been given a reason to believe otherwise.

_**"I was near enough that I smelled the blood from the wound on your leg— which, by the way, you'd better get treated when I return you home. I followed the scent from just above the treetops, and that was when I spotted you running from those two brutes. The rest, you already know."**_

Hiccup nodded. He leaned down, resting against Toothless's thick neck, "So you really just saved me out of the goodness of your heart…?"

Toothless remained silent. He didn't know what to make of the lack of an answer. Was there more to it, or wasn't there? He was starting to discover just how secretive dragons were capable of being.

_**"We're almost there."**_

As Toothless said this, Hiccup realized that he could just barely see the outskirts of the village in the distance. They'd finally made it back, he thought with relief.

That relief was quickly washed away when he realized what he was riding on the back of. No way would any of the residents of Berk take kindly to a dragon, regardless of how nice Toothless may be. As he panicked more and more, he tugged at Toothless's ear flaps with both his hands.

"No, wait! You can't go there! They'll kill you for sure!" Hiccup said.

_**"I can handle my own, child."**_

"I'm not a child! I'm 16…! Er. Sort of."

Toothless tilted his head curiously at that.

"That's not important, though," Hiccup said, "the point is that everyone in my village _kills_ dragons! They've been doing it their entire lives! There's no way you can just waltz in there!"

_**"Does it really matter that much to you?"**_

"Uh… yes?" Hiccup didn't mean to make it sound like a question, but Toothless's own question had caught him off guard. His opinion mattered?

After a few moments, when they reached the outskirts of the village, Toothless finally spoke again, _**"Very well. I'll do as you've requested and leave you here."**_

Toothless crouched a little lower so that Hiccup would have an easier time climbing down. Hiccup was about to leave when he stopped and looked back at the Night Fury.

**_"What is it?"_ **Toothless asked him.

The boy frowned, saddened by the thought on his mind, "Will I ever see you again?"

The dragon stepped forward and nudged his nose into the boy's back, causing him to stumble a few steps forward.

**_"Hiccup, I think it's time for you to go. You need to get your leg treated."_**

"But that can wait! Can't you tell me—! Hey, where are you going?!"

He got no answer from the mysterious dragon. Toothless took off to the skies, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone in the shadows that remained in the early morning. Like a ghost, he'd disappeared. Hiccup was sad to see him go, especially since it felt like he'd made a friend in Toothless. He didn't have any of those, really. He was acquainted with Fishlegs, but they didn't hang out as much as they used to (or rather, they didn't hang out at all anymore). Gobber cared about him, but Gobber wasn't so much of a friend. Ruffnut and Tuffnut weren't friends of his at all, nor was Snotlout. Though he'd had a long time crush on Astrid, and kind of still did, it was as if he didn't exist to her. There'd be dragon sheep hybrids flying around Berk upon the day she even looked at Hiccup, let alone returned his feelings.

There wasn't much use moping about it, though. There was no telling where Toothless was by now. Dragons could go just about anywhere that a human couldn't. He was long gone for sure.

With Toothless gone, he now remembered how cold he was. He was only wearing his shirt. Brilliant. Hopefully, nobody was awake yet, so he could save his dignity.

He skirted around the outside of the village, keeping to the trees until he was as close to his father's hut as he could get. He then made a mad dash for the front door, just in time to smack into none other than _Astrid Hofferson_. Pretty much the worst person to run into whilst being in the (partial) nude. So much for his dignity.

Using his hands to cover himself and try to keep some modesty at least, Hiccup stuttered, "U-Uh, Astrid, uh, I c-can explain…! It's not what it looks like!"

Astrid screamed.

"D-don't panic, I-I—!"

"Hiccup, your leg!"

Okay, so Hiccup admitted it looked pretty bad… and it had started bleeding again… and oh, Odin, was it infected?!

Next thing he knew, he'd passed out.

* * *

He started awakening to the sound of a feminine voice he recognized...

"... you think he's going to be okay?"

Astrid.

"He's a strong kid. He'll survive."

His father.

"That's not what she meant, Stoick. You know what she's asking about."

Gobber.

"I... I just don't know, okay?!"

His father's voice cracked when he said this, as if he'd been crying, or about to cry. It hurt Hiccup to know that his father, the leader of Berk, Stoick the Vast, slayer of countless dragons... was in this state...

"I'm... really sorry, Stoick," he heard Gobber say, so uncharacteristically soft.

"It's fine. Just go."

The sound of a door closing. Silence. Then sobbing.

"What have I done...?"

Hiccup opened his eyes to see his father beside his bed, head held in his hands as he cried over him.

"I've let them do this to you... my only son... my Hiccup, not even a man yet..."

There was no doubt in his mind. Somehow, his father _knew_. He knew what had been done to Hiccup last night. _All_ of it.

"Dad..." Hiccup whispered.

Stoick lowered his hands to reveal his bloodshot eyes, looking at Hiccup.

"Son, you're awake."

He hugged his son, but not nearly as tight as he usually did. It was an unsettling reminder that his father new what had been done to him last night. It made him slightly sick to his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Son... I'm so sorry... I should have done something... I should have..."

"Should have done what, Dad?" Hiccup tried to reason, patting his father's shoulder awkwardly. "It's fine. Really."

"No. It's not. I'm the chief. I'm supposed to protect ye."

"You couldn't have known, Dad. You didn't know someone would do that. You weren't there. It's fine."

Stoick hugged him more tightly, but said nothing more. He was eerily silent for a while until Hiccup started to be worried about what was going through his father's head.

"Who was it?" his father asked so abruptly that Hiccup blanched.

"What?" he pulled away from his father's embrace.

"I need to know. Who did it, Hiccup? I can silence them."

"It's not important."

"Nonsense! Ye know how the others can be— how they feel about these sorts of things—"

"Call it what is, Dad. _Rape_."

"_Hiccup!_" Stoick shouted in disbelief.

"You and I both know, so we may as well stop tiptoeing around it," he snapped, tired of neither of them acknowledging it.

"Just... tell me who did it... please..." Stoick begged.

It may have been the first time his father said the word 'please'. It was definitely the first time he'd heard his father speak in such a pleading tone with not only him, but anyone. Maybe that's what caused him to give in.

"It was two men," he spoke quietly, "Johan and Arnstein, they called themselves."

"I remember those two! They've been causing a ruckus around Berk for a while now! I'll just go and find them right n—"

"You can't!"

Stoick stopped and stared at his son suspiciously, "Why not?"

He paused, taking in a deep breath and sighed, "They're dead."

Stoick was now incredulous at the statement, "Dead? How? Did you—?!"

"I didn't," Hiccup interrupted with a shake of his head, "it was in the wilderness. A dr—"

He stopped and caught himself mid-sentence. For some reason, he didn't feel right telling his father just what had happened after the encounter with his attackers. Not yet, anyway. That was a secret he wanted to keep close to heart for now.

"What happened in the wilderness?"

Hiccup shook his head. His father continued to question him for quite a while longer, but he never relented. It was enough to tell his father that they were dead. He knew why his father had wanted to know.

Rape on men was heavily frowned upon in Berk— not for the rapist, but the victim. Should he be found out (which was likely to happen if his attackers had still been alive), at best he'd be ridiculed. At worst, stoned to death or exiled. If word got out, there wouldn't be exceptions, even if he was the chief's son. There were plenty of villagers who would jump at the chance to be rid of such a puny heir as Hiccup. Especially since his cousin, Snotlout was seen as a much better replacement. If he honestly had a choice, he'd let Snotlout be chief, but he couldn't in good conscience let such a violence-driven moron lead Berk. He'd lead them straight into ruin.

So unless Berk decided to let someone such as, say, Astrid lead the village, he was here to stay.

It had been about an hour's time since his father had left the room. He'd tried to sleep for a majority of it, but kept waking back up.

He figured it was his body's way of saying he'd had enough rest. Crawling out of bed, he wandered over to where he kept his changes of clothes. He tugged on his usual green tunic and leggings. He had a backup for his shoes, but the jacket that had been left behind the Meade Hall was his only— oh no! His clothes were still behind the Meade Hall!

As he walked out the doorway of his bedroom, he pulled on his boots, then ran down the stairs. He prayed to Hamingja that he'd get there in time.

Oddly enough, when he arrived to the place where he'd been raped, he couldn't find his clothes anywhere. They were gone. He searched high and low, but all he found was ash where his clothes should have been. What could possibly have happened to them?

"Hiccup?"

He turned around to see Astrid walking up behind him, a few fish in a basket under her arm, and a pole in her hand. Prior to today, he may have been secretly imploding from the joy of Astrid noticing and actually speaking to him. Sadly, he didn't have that luxury.

"Hey," he said. The glimpses of his memory from when he'd just woken up reminded him that she, too, knew about the rape. He just hoped she didn't say anything about it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she leaned against the back wall of the Meade Hall.

Relieved that he got lucky, he replied, "I'm okay. My leg's giving me a little bit of trouble, but I'm really pain tolerant."

"Nobody was expecting you to be able to walk today. Shouldn't you be resting more?"

"And miss out on all the fun? You've got to be kidding me," he said, more sarcastically than anything else. He wasn't really missing much, but he still hated being cooped up.

If Astrid caught his sarcasm, she didn't acknowledge it. She rolled her eyes. She pushed off the wall and handed the basket of fish to him.

"Anyway, this is for you," she said before walking away.

He hadn't even have the chance to turn her down, thank her, ask her why... Nothing. She'd just handed the basket to him such a way that he had to hold it, and left him with it. Of course, he figured it had something to do with him being wounded, but he'd expected her to not even want to associate with him. Or maybe to have been a little bit awkward about seeing him kind of naked earlier.

Could it be that she cared more about him than he'd given her credit for...?

* * *

Hiccup sat in the stands of the Arena. Most of the day had gone by in a boring haze. Even though he was already typically useless, he was even more so lately. Despite the fact that he tried to act as if he was fine, and walk around and somewhat run as if nothing had happened the night before, he really was in a lot of pain. That was why Gobber wouldn't let him train with the others today, even if he tried to ask.

They were, as usual, completely uncooperative with each other as they fought against the old, agitated Gronckle. The twins bantered back and forth over who'd get the 'finishing blow' (never mind that a finishing blow wouldn't be necessary with how much they argued). Snotlout would knock Fishlegs down or hit him upside the head every five minutes for whatever reason, and then a small argument would ensue. Knowing him, he was going with the usual "you were in my way" excuse.

Meanwhile, Astrid was as beautiful and graceful as always. He wished he could be down there beside her. He wanted to see what it was like to be able to fight by her side.

Of course, Hiccup was more useless than a broken door knob, even when he wasn't wounded. Now that he was, he could only imagine how horridly he'd mess everything up. It was better if he only watched. Even if he was lonely.

Hiccup sighed. Being lonely sucked.

* * *

"Hey, _fish bone_!"

It was Snotlout. The dimwit took to slinging childish insults at Hiccup. 'Fish bone' was but one of many on a very long list of the names he'd used in the past. He looked up to see the young viking with black hair approaching from a few steps below by the fence.

Snotlout was a strange one. He wasn't much older than Hiccup himself, and yet he was really beefed up (his father would insist rest was for the weak), and his upper lip already had the makings of some facial hair. Even with all that, he was only a couple hairs taller than Hiccup. Nobody ever mentioned that, though. Tuffnut had once, and it had earned him a few scrapes, bruises, and a black eye. Ruffnut had been furious, and Astrid had only barely been able to hold her back.

"What do you want, Snotlout?" Hiccup asked, unhappy about the fact he had been caught off guard enough that he was forced to speak to the bully.

"Noticed you weren't out training with us," he said as he stood next to Hiccup, placing a heavy hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

It took all his willpower not to try to slap the hand away, "Yeah. I wasn't."

_Your investigative skills must be so amazing! _he added mentally with heavy sarcasm.

"Mind telling me why? We're buddies, right, Hic?" he asked.

_No. No, we're **not**._

"It's none of you're business, Snotlout."

"Oh, but it is. I'm _making_ it my business," he replied gruffly, "so why don't you tell me what makes you such a special snowflake compared to the rest of us?"

"What?! Nothing—"

"Exactly," he said, pulling Hiccup's head back by his hair, "so what made you think you didn't have to get down there?"

"But Gobber said—"

"Gobber said _what_?"

"Gobber said I wasn't allowed to train today."

"Oh? And why not?" Snotlout demanded, tugging more painfully at Hiccup's hair.

"Because—"

"What are you doing?"

They both looked up to see Astrid approaching them. The look on her face said she was not pleased with what she saw. Snotlout pushed hiccup down and threw himself as far away from Hiccup as he could.

"Uh... Uh, nothing! Right, Hic?"

Hiccup was too busy rubbing at the back of his head to soothe the ache to really come up with a reply. Astrid narrowed her eyes at Snotlout. She walked over to Hiccup and helped him up off the floor.

"Come on, Hiccup. We're leaving," she said, glaring at Snotlout one more time for good measure.

* * *

Astrid didn't stay with Hiccup for long. She walked him to his home, then claimed she had stuff she needed to do. Hiccup felt really emasculated by the fact he'd just been protected and walked home by Astrid so that he wouldn't be pummeled by Snotlout. On the one hand, it was good to be home mostly bruise free by the end of the day. On the other, he was feeling less and less like a man by the day.

When he entered his home, he found that his father hadn't returned yet. He went up to his bedroom and doodled at his desk for a while. It didn't amuse him for long. Eventually, he decided it was time to settle down and go to bed.

* * *

Weeks went by and Hiccup's leg finally healed up. He still had small scars from the wounds, but they weren't too noticeable unless someone pointed them out.

It had now been three whole months since the rape incident. Not once in that time had he seen Toothless. He wasn't sure what had happened between the two of them. He had long ago figured that the ashes behind Meade Hall had actually been Toothless's doing. The dragon was a lot smarter than he'd given him credit for, and tens of thousands of times smarter than anyone else in Berk probably thought dragons were capable of being.

In the time that had passed, Hiccup and Astrid grew closer. After they got over the initial awkwardness, they got along well, and horsed around a lot. They also got the hang of working together during training. Astrid was more the brawn while Hiccup was the brain. After he got over being emasculated, he realized he liked it that way, and so did she.

When they weren't training with the others, or training on their own time, they were doing various other activities together. They'd do anything from fishing to coming up with contraptions. It had taken a while for Astrid to warm up to the idea of Hiccups inventions, but when she did, she'd become really supportive of him. She'd even help him retrieve materials that he couldn't get on his own.

Today was a particularly warm day for Berk, so they were taking a pleasant walk in the wilderness. They didn't go far, since the farther they went, the more likely they were to run into wild dragons. While Astrid had a few knives on her in case of an emergency, and Hiccup had a knife of his own, they still preferred not to get into an unnecessary battle.

"You've been thinking about something these past few minutes," Astrid commented, pulling him away from said thoughts, "what's bothering you?"

"It's nothing—" he started to say, but caught the look Astrid was giving him. She'd grown to know him well, and she knew when 'nothing' was obviously something. She also was much more stubborn than Stoick. Hiccup sighed, "It really doesn't matter that much."

"It does to you, so it does to me."

Hiccup paused to gather his thoughts, "Well," he mumbled as he kicked a pebble off the path, "you remember the night I was attacked?"

She nodded.

"Don't you think it's strange that I was able to escape with a wound like that and nothing to defend myself?" he asked her.

Astrid gave him a shrug, "I just figured you got lucky."

"I guess you could say that," he replied, "... would you believe me if I told you I was saved by a dragon?"

"No."

"Oh," Hiccup frowned, looking away.

"But I want to. It's just not possible though. Dragons just don't do that. Maybe it thought you weren't enough of a threat and flew off."

"He didn't though," Hiccup said, getting more excited as he spoke, "he killed those guys who attacked me and then he spoke to me! He protected me and stayed with me all night!"

"That's crazy. Dragons don't speak," Astrid was incredulous. She couldn't comprehend the idea of a dragon speaking.

"But this one did, he— oh, Odin, he used such perfect Norse! It was as if he'd spoken it for years," Hiccup went on and on, gushing over how smart the dragon he'd met had been.

Somehow, Astrid felt like she'd got Hiccup going on about something she shouldn't have. Or at least, she'd got him talking about something that now he would _not_ shut up about.

He continued to go on and on, in fact, until he took a look around and realized they were lost.

"—and I just never thought that a dragon could—" Hiccup blinked and looked around, "... where are we?"

Astrid shook her head and huffed, leaning against a tree, "I've got no idea. We weren't supposed to go this far into the wilderness. There could be dragons—"

**Snap.**

They both froze at the sound. Something was nearby, and there was no telling what that something was. Moments later, there was a menacing growl from the bushes.

_**"—are you doing in my territory?!"**_

He only caught the tail end of it, but he could have sworn he heard a dragon speaking. It was different than how Toothless's voice had sounded. Much raspier and a little more high-pitched. It also kind of squawked, like a parrot.

"Did you hear that?" Hiccup whispered.

"What? The growling?" Astrid whispered back. "Of course I did!"

"No, it said something—"

_**"You're not supposed to be here!"**_

This was said in a screech as out of the bush pounced a Deadly Nadder. She eyed them both with rage in her beady, yellow eyes.

_**"You're intruding in my territory!"**_

Hiccup stood in front of Astrid, blocking the Nadder's view of her, "We didn't know it was your territory!"

The Nadder froze, her head tilted forward and to the side, her eyes dilated. It seemed to indicate curiosity.

_**"You are speaking to me, human?"**_

The Nadder was using a much calmer tone than earlier. Her voice wasn't quite as grating anymore, which made it a little less unpleasant to speak to.

"Yes. I don't want to fight you."

"Are you speaking to it? What is it saying?" Astrid asked him.

"She said we're in her territory— What's that look for?"

"In Norse, please..."

"But—"

Just then, there was a screeching sound above them. Next thing they knew, Toothless was landing out of nowhere right beside them.

_**"Leave him be. This one's mine."** _

Toothless stood between Hiccup and the Deadly Nadder, rearing up and spreading his wings to block her view. He growled at her.

_**"I wasn't going to do anything to him!"**_

The Nadder snapped with a hiss.

_**"Leave!"**_

_**"But this is my territory!"**_

_**"Do you really think I care?! Leave!"**_

Hiccup stepped around Toothless, "Hey, that's not very nice! She wasn't doing anything. There's no need to be so mean to her."

_**"But she could have hurt you—"**_

Toothless tried to argue in his defense.

"But she didn't!" he interrupted. "Besides, you've been gone for months!"

_**"I couldn't help that! I was called!"**_

"Called?"

_**"Can anyone tell me what's going on—"**_

The Nadder began to ask curiously.

_**"Shut up."**_

"Don't tell her that!" Hiccup snapped.

_**"But—"**_

"No."

_**"Fine."**_

_**"Really, what's going on?"**_

Hiccup looked to the Nadder, "It's nothing, honest. We'll get out of your territory now. Sorry for intruding."

_**"I don't mind. I just thought you were like the other humans,"**_she said, _**"come back anytime."**_

* * *

After they parted ways with the Deadly Nadder, they backtracked a ways through the woods until they came upon a cove. Hiccup had refused to go back to Berk until he'd gotten a chance to have a real talk with Toothless. They settled down near the water as they chatted. Astrid sat beside Hiccup, making no conversation.

"So tell me where you've been this whole time," Hiccup looked to Toothless.

_**"I was with Snow," **_Toothless told him.

"Snow? Who's that?"

_**"Well, he's an alpha of sorts for us dragons. He protects us. We can't ignore his summons."**_

Hiccup gave Toothless an incredulous look, "He summoned you for three months?!"

**_"It's complicated,"_ **Toothless growled, _**"I'm sorry that I left like that, but I had no control over things."**_

"Three months is a long time to be away..."

_**"For humans, yes, and again, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention."**_

Things got awkwardly silent for a while. Astrid and Hiccup took turns skipping stones across the water while Toothless sat stone still, lost in thought.

After Hiccup had thrown his fifteenth stone, Toothless walked over and sat beside him.

_**"Have you been recovering in my absence?"**_

"You underestimate the healing capabilities of humans," Hiccup chuckled, "I was completely healed two months ago."

_**"So much slower than a dragon..."**_

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it," Hiccup rolled his eyes, "dragons are superior over humans in _everything_."

_**"Was that sarcasm?"**_

"Maybe," he said, watching Astrid's stone skip across the water. It skipped seven times. He knelt down to search the ground for more flat stones for skipping.

_**"I have to leave again,"** _Toothless told him.

"Won't you come back?" Hiccup asked him, sad to see the dragon leaving again. He felt a sort of connection with him, despite the fact he was a dragon, and despite the fact they'd only briefly spoken.

_**"Is that what you ask of me?"**_

"I'd hate to see you go," Hiccup replied, "this is kind of silly, but no one ever noticed me before you did. They didn't notice me for me."

**_"Then I will return."_**

With that, he took off to the skies once more.

"Mind telling me what that was about?" Astrid asked, causing Hiccup to jump. He'd temporarily forgotten her presence.

"You mean you couldn't understand any of that?" Hiccup frowned.

She crossed her arms, "Not a bit. You were both speaking some strange language I've never heard before."

"What? But how's that even possible?!"

Astrid shrugged, "That's what I'd like to know..."

* * *

It was hard for Hiccup to wrap his mind around the fact that he knew a language that he didn't know he knew. How did he even accomplish such a feat? It made no sense. His entire life had been based around fact and had made some semblance of sense, but lately everything had been getting turned inside out and upside down. The world as he knew it was coming undone all around him.

When he found out that Astrid had no idea how to speak what he'd decided to call 'Dragonese', he deduced that it was probably something special to him. What he couldn't figure out was what made him so special.

He was weak. He couldn't kill a dragon to save his life (and that was in the most literal sense possible). He was a pacifist. Killing and violence wasn't his knee jerk reaction to all conflict as it was for other vikings. He was intelligent. Ridiculously so, especially when compared to almost anyone in Berk. Now this strange ability to not only speak to, but also understand dragons.

Everything about Hiccup simply _screamed_, "Different!"

These were the thoughts that plagued his mind ever since he and Astrid had parted ways upon their return to Berk. He always had been an abnormal viking, but he'd been able to fool himself into believing he fit in, or would at least find his place in Berk somehow.

Except now, he felt more alienated than ever before.

He sat up from his bed and walked over to his desk, where he'd often write and keep his notes and sketches at. The page on the top was a sketch of Toothless in flight.

"Where do I belong?" he asked himself as he picked up his charcoal. He occupied his time for the next hour or so with filling out the sketch a bit more. When it was done, he frowned at the drawing and shoved it under all his previous notes and sketches, where no one would notice it.

He went back to his bed and flopped down on his belly. Life was so boring lately. Nothing about his life had really changed, but ever since his run-ins with Toothless, he felt more and more like he needed something else. There just wasn't enough.

But enough of what?

That was the question indeed.

* * *

A few days later was the next time Hiccup saw Toothless. Hiccup was alone this time. He'd gone for a walk in the wilderness until he'd happened upon the cove where they'd spoken before. He had skipped a few stones and then napped by the bank in the warm, relaxing rays of the sun for a while. He woke when he felt a shadow suddenly fall over him.

He opened his eyes slowly to see Toothless's two owlish, green eyes, "You're back."

**_"I promised, didn't I?" _**the dragon asked with a strange, low almost warbling sound. It was almost as if he was laughing, or chuckling.

"I just didn't expect you to be back so soon."

_**"I told you already that last time was complicated. Believe me, there were many times I just wanted to come flying back and visit you."**_

Now things were getting odd.

"You did? Why?" Hiccup asked him. He didn't understand anything anymore.

Toothless looked at him, then away at the water, _**"It's complicated."**_

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "O... kayyy... Well, do you have any idea why I can talk to you and other dragons?"

_**"It's complicated," **_the dragon replied again, frustrating him to no end.

"Seems like everything's just too complicated to talk about," Hiccup glared.

_**"I don't mean to be so difficult. It's only that I don't think you're ready."**_

Hiccup stood and began pacing, "Ready... for _what _exactly?! I've been ready. For three months. I need answers, Toothless. I'm losing my mind here, wondering what this world's come to_**—**_What I've come to!" he shouted as he turned to look at Toothless, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

_**"I just don't want to lose you again, okay?!"**_

Hiccup stilled. His jaw dropped from shock. The expression on his face was one of hurt, confusion, "I don't understand..."

* * *

**End note: That's it for this chapter. Let me know if you have ideas for improvement (or caught one of my infamous typos). I'd love to hear how I did on writing Stoick, as I haven't really had a father figure in my life. I don't really know how to write fathers.**

**Also, questions are totally welcome! They inspire me to get my arse back to work.**

**Well, until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't understand..." Hiccup told Toothless, "how could you have lost me already? We've hardly ever met."

_**"It's not important**_—_**" **_Toothless tried to reply, but the boy cut him off.

"Don't give me that, because it is this time. If it involves me, I need to know."

_**"Hiccup, please just drop it... you're not ready..."**_

Hiccup scowled, "No, it's you who's not ready! Why can't you just tell me?!"

The fearsome black dragon shied away from the boy as he became more upset with him. It was nearly a laughable sight to see, if it weren't for the subject matter of the argument.

_**"... You're right. It is me who's not ready..." **_Toothless said, _**"but it's still something that I'd rather not talk about right now. I'm not over it yet, and it's probably better if you don't know anyway."**_

Somehow, Hiccup knew he was going to get that answer. It still didn't change that it saddened him to hear it. There was a part of him that Toothless seemed to know about, and he was keeping that part away from him. He'd convinced himself that there was no way that knowing something about himself, no matter how bad that something could be, could ever be worse than not knowing at all.

"Please, just go," Hiccup said softly.

_**"Hiccup—"** _he tried to crawl to the human.

Hiccup glared at him, and repeated just as softly, "Go."

Something seemed to happen between them as they looked into each other's eyes, and then among the pain of being rejected in Toothless's eyes, he could see clarity. The dragon left without another qualm.

Hiccup watched as he went, somehow feeling more hurt from rejecting the dragon than the dragon felt from being rejected. He dared not call out for him.

* * *

It had been nearly an entire week since Hiccup had watched Toothless fly away for the third time. It seemed harder to watch him go each time he did so. He feared the outcome of becoming too attached... or had he already become too attached?

He was brought out of his thoughts by some not-quite-so-quiet whispering nearby. It was two old biddies gossiping back and forth. He nearly dismissed their obnoxious chatter as a nuisance and started to walk away, but then his ears caught the sound of his name on their lips.

_"_—_... that Hiccup lad, yes. Stoick's son...—"_

_"—heard he was committing...—"_

_"He did what?!"_

_"Shh, sh— ... he was...—"_

His ears weren't good enough to hear the entire conversation, but it was starting to bother him. He crept around a hut near where they were chattering and crawled up to a bush beside them, where he'd be able to eavesdrop better. What he overheard, he immediately wished he hadn't.

"I was told it was a few months ago that it happened," the biddy gossiped, "I can't believe nobody has done anything about that pervert. They're just letting that... thing... walk around, doing as he pleases. It's disgusting."

"So he really did submit during sex?! What an awful thing for the chief's heir to do! Stoick cannot possibly allow him to be chief! Why, he's practically a woman!"

Hiccup grit his teeth. His fingers clawed at the dirt. They were talking of spite behind his back?!

"Yes, what of children? Who will be chief after he passes?"

"I'm more worried about the near future— What if we're attacked?! He'll just try to 'reason' with them!"

He'd heard enough! Sending a punch at the hut he was kneeling beside, he turned and ran into the forest. He needed to get away from this damn village!

Having heard the dull thud from Hiccup punching the hut, one of the old biddies looked up and saw Hiccup just as he disappeared around a corner.

"Oh, my. You don't think he heard us talking, do you?"

The other shook her head with a scowl that made her face have twice the wrinkles it normally did, "No. We were keeping our voices down."

The few vikings that were minding their own business nearby figured it wouldn't be worth their time to tell the two old ladies that they were quite wrong. When they were that old, they were usually senile and stuck in their ways.

* * *

Hiccup ran until he got to the cove in the woods. He knelt on the bank and dipped his throbbing knuckles into the cool water of the cove. He hadn't exactly considered that he was a weakling and that it was idiotic to take his frustrations out on a building. Even a building was stronger than him. Especially a building.

He just couldn't understand how word could have gotten out about that night. Besides, not including him or Toothless, there were only three people who knew— Stoick, Gobber, and Astrid. It couldn't have been his father. His father had demanded to know who did it, and had wanted to silence them. Would he have?

He felt deeply saddened. One of them had told someone he'd been raped. He didn't know who, but it was one of them. They were all three people that he trusted a lot. In fact, there was no one he trusted more...

But now, what or who did he have to believe in...?

* * *

The training session that day was shorter than usual. Gobber claimed that he couldn't train them as long as he normally did, since he had to go to some sort of meeting. Hiccup couldn't help the feeling he got that it had something to do with him. He felt as if everything that had got better had suddenly come crashing down around him in a heap of useless rubble and dust.

It could only be a matter of time...

After they were done practicing, Gobber left in such a hurry that it was left to the tired trainees to drag the knocked out Hideous Zippleback back to its pen all on their own. Everyone was groaning and moaning about being tasked with something so tedious and boring when Astrid volunteered Snotlout and herself to do it so that everyone else could go home early.

Hiccup thought this was strange, but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He waited by the gates of the den for Astrid to emerge, but as they seemed to take longer than should have been taken to return a knocked out dragon to its pen, he started to fidget. The Zippleback hadn't woken up again, had it?

He figured it would be okay to peek inside, just to be sure that everything was going smoothly.

Heaving his weight into the door, he surprised himself when he was able to open the door just a little without any of the usual painful screeching the door loved to make. It was just enough space for him to peek inside and see that there weren't any problems with the Zippleback. They'd already managed to get it inside its pen and lock it up. They were talking to each other in hushed tones about something. Hiccup forced the door open just a bit more, trying to hear what they were talking about.

"What's this about, Astrid?" Snotlout grumbled to her, "You hardly ever spend time with me anymore. I know you want something."

Astrid punched him square in the jaw, "One, I _never_ spent time with you in your life; and two," she punched the other side of his face with her other fist, "I thought I _told_ you not to tell anybody! I trusted you!"

Hiccup's stomach felt as if it had decided to twist itself into an uncomfortable knot. He didn't like what he was hearing, or what they were talking about. What did they do...?

Snotlout spat out a small mixture of spit and blood at the ground, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "That hurt... and in my defense, I didn't mean to tell anyone about it. It just kinda slipped out when I was talking to my father—" Hiccup was internally screaming; he had told his _father_ of all people?! "—I didn't know it was that big of a deal."

_Only _Snotlout wouldn't have known it was a big deal. He was such an absolute moron. If he'd cared about his own intelligence one hundredth of the amount he cared about his damned muscles and libido, he'd probably have been able to figure it out.

"You idiot! Do you realize what you've done?! You've doomed him!" she cried, pulling her fist back to punch him again.

Snotlout flinched away from her, hiding his face behind his elbow. Hiccup watched as Astrid's fist remained in the air for a few seconds more before it eventually dropped down to her side.

Snotlout lowered his arm a little, and in a low whine not like any sound that should come from Snotlout's mouth, he said, "Astrid... I'm sorry..."

He saw Astrid's shoulders give a slight shudder. Heard a high whimper. Snotlout moved forward to hug her, and Astrid made as if she was about to hit him again before she gave in and hugged him back.

"Why did this have to happen...?" Astrid asked, not really expecting an answer as she sobbed into Snotlout's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Snotlout said again, hugging her more tightly.

"I don't want him to die..."

Hiccup couldn't see Astrid's face, but he could see Snotlout's as he seemed to be feeling sympathetic pain for Astrid. His brows were furrowed, his lips pulled back in a grimace, eyes narrowed... yet another very un-Snotlout thing to do.

"That's not going to happen," he told her in such a sure tone that Hiccup couldn't tell whether he honestly could know that, or if he was just trying to sound strong for the girl he pined for. Either way, he sounded really convincing... for an idiot.

"You can't possibly know that," Astrid said, repeating aloud what Hiccup had just been thinking.

"But I can. You know Stoick wouldn't let anything happen to his son."

"Stoick is chief before he is Hiccup's father. He won't have any choice if the village wants him dead."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Snotlout asked, and thus ended his five minutes of intelligence.

Astrid stepped away from Snotlout, "Don't you remember? They'll stone him to death," she snapped as she walked away.

Hiccup's heart was beating what seemed to be a million beats a minute, and he was finding it increasingly hard to remember how to breathe. His mouth went dry. His pupils shrunk. His head grew dizzy. He was starting to feel faint.

Oh yeah. He was going to die soon.

He didn't notice when the door was opened enough for Astrid and Snotlout to slip out. He didn't even notice the loud slam of it being shut. What brought him back to reality was Astrid saying his name.

"Huh?" he blinked out of his panicked stupor as he heard his name.

Astrid frowned at him, concerned, "Are you okay?"

Hiccup looked away from her, focusing on the far gate, "You told him," he said. It wasn't a question. It wasn't meant to be answered. It was but a simple statement.

But she answered him anyway, "I had to. He wasn't leaving me alone—!"

He looked back at her sharply. He didn't raise his voice when he interrupted her in such a dead tone, "You didn't have to tell him anything."

"No, Hiccup, you have to believe me," she shook her head, "you have to! You've got it all wrong!"

He laughed a bitter laugh, "No, Astrid, I think I've got it all right. You could have told Fishlegs, or even Ruffnut..." he said, then taking a deep breath and sighing, "... but you told the one person who hates me enough to really tell someone. The one person who's got a big enough mouth to let it slip. The one who's _stupid enough_ to think that it would be okay to tell everybody."

As he continued to speak he could see Astrid becoming more and more upset. She was nearly brought to tears again by his words alone. He didn't want to be mean to her like this. He'd never meant to be mean to her... but he was hurt, and he wanted someone to hurt with him. He'd felt wronged. But this wasn't making it right.

Snotlout held up a hand to get their attention, "Hey, uh, I resent that—"

"I'm leaving," Hiccup interrupted as he then turned and walked away, then added, "alone."

"Where are you going?" Astrid asked him, her voice pitiful as she tried to raise it and it ended up cracking.

"Home. If I even have one anymore."

* * *

Somehow, he managed to make it home without much trouble. It wasn't until just after he'd closed the door that a riot started up right outside their hut. He chose to block out the sounds of people calling him a whore and woman, so on and so forth. They wouldn't even be making such a big deal out of it if it weren't for the fact that he was heir to become chief. They were jumping at the chance to be rid of him.

He trudged up his stairs to his bedroom. He thought he might rest, but instead he lay there in his bed, awake, thinking about how alone he suddenly was. He'd been worried about loneliness before, when his leg had been wounded, but that was nothing compared to this.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a small part of him was crying that it wished Toothless was here. He didn't know how that would make things any better, but it was just the way he felt.

He continued to lay there in bed with wide eyes until there came a rapping at his door.

"Come in," he said, not even bothering to raise his voice. He wasn't entirely sure his throat would even be able to handle him raising his voice. Not that it mattered. He knew it was his father at his door, and that he'd still come waltzing in whether he wanted him to or not.

The door opened with a long, drawn out creak.

"Hiccup?"

He didn't say anything. His father walked over and sat on the foot of his bed.

"Son," he said, then giving a long pause, "I... I don't know what to do."

It was such a foreign, strange thing for his father to say that he'd nearly convinced himself that it wasn't his father talking to him at all. But of course it was.

"They want to execute ye, Son..." Stoick said.

Obviously. His father wasn't doing a very good job of whatever he was trying to do if all he intended to do was state the obvious.

"I just don't... I can't..." Stoick sighed, "I'm not going to let that happen."

This caught his attention. He glanced up at his father from the corner of his eye.

"It's not much better, but I've got a plan. I'm going to exile ye."

He groaned and looked away again. As if that was any better. That just meant his death would be that much painfully slower.

"It's the best I can do, Son."

He'd closed his eyes by this point, but he heard his father stand and walk away.

In a voice he almost didn't hear at all, Stoick whispered the words, "I'm sorry, Hiccup."

As Stoick closed his son's bedroom door, he then turned his eyes toward the ceiling, "Valka, forgive me."

* * *

He stood on the dock at early dawn. The entire village was behind him, watching. His father was at the forefront of the group. Gobber stood at his left flank. He was wearing an ax attachment in place of a hand today. At his right was an equally huge viking who he'd forgotten the name of. Both of them had an iron grip upon either of his shoulders.

His hands were bound behind his back. The skin of his wrists were an angry red from tugging at the painfully tight knot of the rope until his skin had gotten raw. He couldn't remember why he'd even bothered with trying to escape. It was futile.

Hiccup stumbled as he was roughly shoved forward to where a small rowboat floated at the end of the dock. No food was inside. No water. No oars.

When he stopped just short of the rowboat, the viking on his right flank kicked his mid back. He fell into the boat. He lost his balance when his feet met the floor of the boat, and he got a face full of sea water. He almost drowned then and there on the dock, but by some stroke of dumb luck he managed to dig his knees into the side of the boat and use it as leverage to pull himself out of the water. He coughed as the saltwater burned his throat and lungs, gulping in stinging hot breaths of air. He blinked the water out of his eyes, which suddenly felt drier than usual.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect ye better, Hiccup..." Gobber apologized to him mournfully.

He looked to the one-handed blacksmith, and noticed that whilst he'd been attempting to save himself from drowning, the unnamed viking had walked back up the dock to stand with the others. It was just Gobber there to see him off.

Of all the the things he could have said to the man he thought of as an uncle, all he did say was, "I don't blame you."

The look on Gobber's face seemed to say it all. Hiccup could see as his facial features rose in what may have been happiness and thankfulness, but then they twisted into remorse and sorrow much greater than moments before. It put a pit in Hiccup's throat.

"I hope you can one day forgive me... I've prayed to the Gods that you might stay safe and live to die another day in battle and enter the hall of Valhalla."

Time went agonizingly slow as Gobber stepped forward. He used his ax to sever the rope tied to one of the posts of the dock and pushed the boat.

"Forgive me..."

It slowed even more as he felt the motion of the boat. The waves started to pull him out to sea.

It pained him to look upon the place he called home, but it pained him even more to look away.

His own village had done this to him.

Shunned him.

Shut him out.

Exiled him.

He may as well be dead already...

* * *

Hiccup was collapsed on his side on the floor of the rowboat, moaning from hunger pains and thirst as his stomach gnashed and churned worse than the sea carrying him. It had been three days since he was sent to sea by the villagers of Berk.

That was three days since he'd seen another human being. Four days since he'd last eaten, since he hadn't been permitted breakfast. Three days since he'd had a decent drink of water. That had been the only kindness he'd been shown before being exiled.

Snotlout had brought him a large mug of water to drink before Gobber and that other viking had come to lead him to the docks. He'd felt significantly demoralized at the time to have to have Snotlout hold the mug for him to drink from, since his hands had already been tied by that point. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to turn the guy down if he was going to do something out of the goodness of his heart. Maybe he was feeling guilt over ruining his life.

As the sun reached its peak in the sky, Hiccup shut his eyes tightly and wished he was dead already. He could barely move, and his ears were ringing so badly, and his head hurt so much that everything sounded ridiculously loud to the point it felt like it was deafening him. The waves around him sounded like a raging storm thanks to his hunger and thirst induced migraine.

Suddenly, he noticed that the light was disappearing rapidly, and the loud crashing sounds of the waves wasn't just because of his headache. His eyes snapped open. He sat up the best he could, being tied up and dizzy. He wobbled, but remained sitting up.

"Even Aegir's got it out for me," he said to himself hopelessly.

In the next moment, a large wave crashed over Hiccup's tiny rowboat. Despite his earlier thoughts of wishing death would come swiftly, his body didn't listen to that wish. He found himself thrashing and writhing beneath the surface of the water, desperate to reach the surface for precious oxygen. He kept his mouth firmly shut and tried his best not to inhale the water through his nose.

Barely, he broke the surface. He gulped in as much air as he possibly could before the current dragged him down again.

He struggled more. His body was a spastic flurry of movement as he struggled to reach the surface again. Though he was trying to keep his mouth shut, his body was instinctively trying to open it. He was battling his own body, trying not to breathe in the sea water. The moment he did would surely be the moment he drowned.

He was so close to the surface, almost there, when he felt a sharp pain somewhere between his throat and his chest. He choked. The remaining air came out of his lungs through his mouth all at once.

**_Glug, glug, glug._**

The sound of the bubbles as they passed and tickled his face was loud. It was all he could hear for those next few seconds of clarity. Then, his world swiftly became dimmer, and continued to get dimmer still. Hiccup could feel himself shutting down.

As the very last of his sense faded away, he felt something painfully grab hold of him. He was dragged deeper below. He was moving fast, but he was also fading fast.

The last thing he saw was big, green eyes, surrounded by an endless expanse of black nothingness. It reminded him of Toothless. He wanted to reach out toward those eyes, but couldn't.

With a final cough, his lungs expelled air he didn't know he'd even been holding anymore.

His world finally faded from him completely.


	4. Chapter 4

**I apologize in advance. This was originally going to be longer, but I've got a slight case of writer's block. Thank you to everyone who left reviews.**

**You guys are amazing.**

* * *

The moment he was able to form coherent thoughts, he was immediately aware of a skull-splitting migraine, and the bickering chatter of three... very annoying... Terrible Terrors...

_**"No, I found him first! He's mine**_—_**!"**_

_**"Stupid, Terror too tiny to own human**_—_**"**_

_**"Am not!"**_

_**"Are too!"**_

_**"Scrag say we kill him!"**_

_**"Shut up, Scrag!"**_

_**"Yeah, Scrag."**_

Hiccup groaned as he lifted his hands to press his palms into his eye sockets.

Wait.

He could _move_ his hands!

Furthermore, he was alive!

He gasped, sitting up. It was a bit too fast, though, as he felt a strong tug as the world seemed to be moving. He took in his surroundings as they slowed their wobbling. He was on the soft, pale sand of a beach. The waves before him were behaving much more calmly than they had been during the storm that took him under and destroyed his boat.

From what he could make of it, he was marooned on an island. Yet, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"I'm... alive?" he asked to no one, eyes wide from the shock of it.

_**"Human spoke!"**_

_**"I heard, stupid."**_

_**"Scrag thinks human will taste like chicken!"**_

_**"Shut up, Scrag."**_

He ignored their bickering. They were too distracted by each other to really be any danger to him.

Somehow, he was alive. A little worse for wear, but alive nonetheless.

There was some sort of movement in the distance. He caught it from the corner of his eye. Hiccup turned his attention toward that direction and noticed something black beneath the waves. If he squinted, he could sort of see what appeared to be two green eyes.

His heart sped up as he saw this. It was the same thing he'd seen right before he'd blacked out from oxygen deprivation. Could that be Toothless...?

**_"Wahhh... He's looking at ol' Doomy-Doom!"_**

**_"Yeah, spooky Doomy-Doom."_**

**_"Doomy-doom doom doom."_**

**_"Shut up, Scrag."_**

Hiccup looked back at the Terrible Terrors. Two of them, a red and a green, were ganging up on the third, which was probably Scrag— the purple one with green polka dots.

"You know who that is?!" he asked them, pointing back toward the shadow and green eyes in the distance.

They all three straightened up and grew awkwardly quiet and stiff. They all stared at him.

_**"H... human... spoke to us..."**_

_**"Shh, maybe if we don't make any sudden movements, he won't hurt us."**_

_**"Scrag scared,"**_said the dumber of the three. There was a growing puddle of wetness in the sand around where he sat.

"What? Why would I—?! Oh, for the love of..." he sighed, "I'm not going to hurt _any_ of you," he explained, which seemed to get them to relax a little, "I just want to know if you know that dragon out there."

The red one piped up, _**"Oh, that's Doom."**_

_**"Yup, Doomy-Doom,"** _the green one pitched in.

_**"Yeah, he really scary, but he protects island."**_

"So that's not... Toothless..."

_**"What's a**** tooth-less?"**_ the red Terror asked him.

"A friend," he said, "I haven't seen him in a long time."

_**"Oh. Well, Terrible Terrors are sorry. Is that why you come all way to here where no human lives?"**_

Hiccup shook his head as he gave the Terror a sad smile, "No. I was exiled from my village."

_**"Egg... siled? What's that?" **_the green asked, scuttling over to where he was now sitting.

"I was sent away from my village, because they didn't like me," he explained to the Terrible Terror, then sighed again, "I don't have a home anymore."

_**"If human wants, human can live with us!" **_the red one declared as he crawled over to sit by Hiccup, too.

"I don't know how well that would work out. I'm a big human, and you're all little dragons."

_**"Silly human, not just tiny Terrors here,"** _the green one chortled, _**"many dragons live on island protected by Doomy-Doom. You stay here. Is good place!"**_

_**"Yes, stay!"**_

_**"Stay, stay!"**_the polka dotted one known as Scrag cheered as he curled up in Hiccup's lap.

"Well... maybe..." he said, not able to hold back the small smile. Maybe he did find a place he could be accepted, if only with these goofy little Terrible Terrors.

_**"Yay! Come, come, Terrors will show you the way!" **_the red one said as he started to run off.

The green one followed after the red, but stopped after a few seconds to look back and see if he was following. Hiccup laughed and stood up. Scrag scurried up Hiccup's tunic and made himself comfortable on his shoulder. Surprisingly, he found that he didn't mind.

_**"Terror's name is Skeet,"** _he looked to the green one,_ **"that one Scrat," **_then the polka dotted one on his shoulder,_** "that one Scrag," **_the little red dragon introduced as he scuttled through some underbrush in the forest. Skeet glanced back at him, _**"What is human's name?"**_

"I'm Hiccup," he said, ducking under a branch that had nearly smacked him in the face. Scrag wasn't so lucky, and was knocked off his shoulder by the branch. He shouted out in surprise before clawing his way back up to his previous perch.

_**"Hiccup strange name for viking man-child. Why have strange name?" **_Scrat asked him, climbing up to perch on Hiccup's other shoulder. The little dragon looked curiously at Hiccup's face, and into his eyes.

He shrugged, with a wry smile, "My dad thought I was a mistake, so Hiccup it is."

_**"Hiccup not look like mistake to Terrible Terrors," **_Scrat scoffed, rubbing his large, disproportionate head against the side of Hiccup's face.

_**"We here!" **_shouted Skeet to the rest of them.

Hiccup was amazed at what he saw. It was a cove, but much larger than the one that he'd spent a lot of his free time in back in Berk. The water was somehow even more beautiful. The foliage was plentiful. The cove was brimming with so many large fish. All around the cove were dragons of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Some old, some young.

It seemed to be a hot spot for raising fledglings, as he spotted many little, tiny dragons that couldn't be much older than hatchlings. He'd expected many of them to react to him with hostility. Some would shy away, but most of them paid him no mind. Except the young ones, who quickly took to crowding him.

The Terrible Terrors were a little disgruntled at the crowding of the babies, but Hiccup didn't really mind too much.

_**"Who's this you've brought into our den, little ones?"**_

He looked toward the direction the voice had come from to see a rather large Monstrous Nightmare approaching them. There wasn't anything fancy about her. She was just a plain, red and black Monstrous Nightmare.

_**"We brought human here. This Hiccup,"** _Scrat said to her.

Her eyes fell upon him, _**"Little Hiccup... What brings you to our den?"**_

Her voice was not aggressive. It was soft, soothing. It compelled him to answer honestly.

"I was exiled from my village by my people."

_**"Exiled?! For what?"** _ she seemed incredulous to hear of such a thing as humans shunning their own kind.

"My people exiled me for being raped."

The Monstrous Nightmare reared her head back as she roared, **_"What a horrid thing to do! Why, we dragons would never dream of such a thing!"_**

"That's the way my people saw fit to deal with it. Men aren't supposed to be submissive during sex."

She shook her head, and tutted, **_"Oh, you poor thing. That's no way to treat you, little one. We dragons do not have such strange rules. Here, you may be accepted with open wings... so long as you can learn to hold your own."_**

Hiccup didn't know what to make of that last statement.

_**"But of course, we will teach you the way," **_her eyes twinkled mischievously, _**"you did not think we would throw you to the fire, now did you, little one?"**_

He smiled, "Thank you."

* * *

That night, he had the first meal he'd eaten in over three days. It had been a miracle up until then that he was even alive anymore. Unfortunately, his stomach wasn't able to handle raw meat, and he ended up having to ask the Monstrous Nightmare if she could cook it with her flames. He found out her name was Darlath.

Darlath told him that in the future, he'd be expected to learn how to get his own food. Since he was currently about as helpless as a hatchling (more helpless, really), he was being taken care of with the rest of them. She explained that he'd have to learn how to hunt and keep up with the rest of the fledglings, and he'd eventually be expected to become self-sufficient. He thanked her for her hospitality as he told her he'd have no qualms with it.

For the first night in a long time, Hiccup slept peacefully, curled up with Scrat, Skeet, and Scrag all snuggling up to him. It was pleasantly warm.

* * *

At the crack of dawn, Hiccup was woken up by Darlath, as well as the rest of the hatchlings and fledglings. They all chattered among each other, making no real sense. It was not unlike the babble human babies would use constantly and communicate with. He paid it no mind.

Once all the others were awake, Darlath gathered them up and led them out of the cove.

**_"Okay, fledglings! Today is survival of the fittest— You must go out and hunt! Whatever you catch is yours to eat, so you'd better go out and catch something, or you'll go without breakfast!"_**

Great... because Odin knew Hiccup was _great _at hunting. Not.

He watched as the others disappeared in the dense foliage, leaving him standing beside Darlath. He sighed.

**_"Well? Go on now," _**Darlath said, nudging him forward with her nose, _**"you want to eat, don't you?"**_

Reluctantly, he did as he was told. There weren't a lot of things Hiccup was good at, and hunting wasn't one of them.

He trudged through the forest, only glancing around briefly as he went to see if he could glimpse anything worth eating that he could actually catch. So far, he wasn't having much luck. He happened upon a critter or two here and there, but then he'd notice a fledgling nearby and decide to leave it be for them to catch.

Eventually he found himself far away from the rest, and still hadn't caught anything at all. Come to think of it, he was an idiot for thinking he was going to be able to catch anything bare-handed. Dragons, even fledglings, had claws. Fire. Sharp, carnivorous teeth. What did he have? Blunt, cracked fingernails. Abnormally small lung capacity, even for a boy his age. The sharpest teeth in his mouth were his dull canines. Needless to say, he wasn't equipped to hunt.

After a while, he started to find things he could hunt, but they'd always scamper or fly away before he could catch them. He'd just lost his seventeenth possible catch, and he was feeling quite hopeless. Maybe he really was doomed?

He continued on his pointless trek, still hoping that maybe, just maybe... he'd get lucky. As he walked, he heard a scuffling sound, and out of nowhere got this ridiculously strange urge to get down on all fours. Though it was strange, he did. He crawled into a bush, peeking through at what was on the other side.

It was a rabbit. Small, but not too small. It was close. Nearly in his reach already.

His eyes lit up when he saw this. All things human forgotten, he focused on one thing and one thing only— he was hungry.

He crept forward. He moved soundlessly, close to the ground. The way he was moving _wasn't human_.

The rabbit didn't hear a thing. Didn't suspect a thing.

Within seconds, he'd pounced upon it.

Instinct told him what to do. His left hand clamped its hind legs to the ground. The right was already at its throat.

With a savage yank on its neck, there were a few audible cracks as the rabbit's spine was fractured. Before he came down from his high, he gave its head a few tugs and twists before deeming the rabbit dead.

When he'd come back to his senses, he was sitting there on the ground, the dead rabbit still clutched tightly in his hands.

The first thing he'd ever killed. Silly though it was, even though Hiccup had eaten meat and fish many a time before, he'd never sullied his hands to get it. Knowing he'd finally given in to this more primal side of himself, he felt sick to his stomach.

Yet, he had no choice. In a sense, it was kill or be killed.

Once he'd regained his bearings, he stood up and began the long trek back to where Darlath would be waiting for the fledglings to return. He carried the dead rabbit by its hind legs in one hand, the other kept in a tight fist. Darlath greeted him with wide eyes as he emerged from the foliage.

**_"You're back! I was beginning to become worried!"_** she neglected to add that she'd been considering babying him and giving him some of her own food for breakfast. The sight of him holding a dead rabbit in hand was reassurance enough that he was learning quickly enough. This little one was stronger than she'd initially given him credit for.

Hiccup's lips curled in a sad smile, "Yeah. It took me a few tries," or rather it took him _several_ tries, "but I managed to hunt something."

Darlath laughed, _**"I can see that. I'm proud of you. You can finally have your breakfast now."**_

If only he could actually cook it...

* * *

The following days didn't feel as if they were any easier than the first. His daily routine was becoming progressively more challenging, and twice as hard in comparison to the fledglings. Because he wasn't one, it took much more effort to keep up with the progress of even a fledgling dragon, or really to keep up with the fledglings in general.

Damn, they were fast.

Darlath would take them out for 'hikes' throughout the island to and through the most awful of places. He often found himself struggling to keep up as they ran, climbed trees, scaled cliffs, and much more. It was almost humanly impossible to do all of what Darlath demanded of him.

Even still, he was determined to live. He needed to do this.

He didn't have his village to lean on anymore, and the dragons weren't going to coddle him as his father had. They were much more accepting of oddities, so in that aspect, they were much kinder than humans... however, they were very brutal when it came to raising their young. In Hiccup's opinion, it was a terrifying side to dragons.

Of course, the fledglings seemed to fare really well. Maybe they weren't so brutal after all.

* * *

As months went by, Hiccup found that he was growing accustomed to life alongside dragons. Over time, he'd grown to be stronger, and faster, more agile. While he couldn't fly like the others, he was still able to clear insane distances by jumping alone— a testament to the time and pain he'd invested in learning to survive without human civilization. He'd adapted so well to dragon life that he was practically a dragon himself.

As his physical capabilities grew, so too did his stomach. He found that he no longer desired to eat like a bird and consume very little. Instead, he now had to eat a lot to maintain himself. Being the rational person he was, he chalked his gradual increase in appetite up to the way he now lived. It was hard work, honestly.

He'd finally managed to become self-sufficient. He could hunt on his own, fight off most possible threats or outrun and outmaneuver what he couldn't, and he'd mastered traveling over any terrain the island had to offer.

What with all the growth and progress he'd made, he started to desire more. He wondered what it was like to venture away from the island. He no longer had ties anywhere, so he could explore to his heart's content...

... at least, whenever he could actually get off this damn island...!

* * *

It wasn't until three years after Hiccup had been marooned on the island that he'd been able to seize the chance for adventure. The fledglings weren't quite adults yet, but Hiccup, now being nineteen years of age, was already matured. He tired of the monotonous life on the peaceful island. An island which he'd already explored entirely, and knew every secret, nook, and cranny. There was nothing more this place could offer him, for he was this wandering soul.

It was late morning, nearly afternoon, that Skeet, Scrat, and Scrag came rushing in his small cave to awaken him.

_**"Hiccup, Hiccup, come, wake up!" **_Skeet shouted as he and Scrag nipped and pulled at Hiccup's face, attempting to rouse him from his deep sleep.

He grumbled, but didn't quite awaken yet. Hiccup rolled over, batting the Terrors away.

"Go 'way... sleepy..."

_**"Sleep can wait! Why you sleep during day, like night dragon? Visitors on the island! Scauldrons!"**_

He opened one eye, peeking over his shoulder, "Why should I care?"

_**"They rest here,"**_Scrat declared, and Skeet whipped him with his tail.

**_"Yeah, but they gonna go see Snow!"_**

Snow... that name sounded oddly... familiar...

Now fully awake, he sat up ramrod straight. The little Terrors shouted out in surprise when he'd suddenly gotten up.

"Did you say Snow?!"

_**"Yes! Great Bewilderbeast— Snow! Scauldrons go visit Snow soon!" **_the red Terror said.

"Where are they?" Hiccup asked.

**_"Out on beach! Terrors told Scauldrons that Hiccup should meet them. Scauldrons waiting,"_ **the green one answered him. Scrag flew up and landed on Hiccup's shoulder, babbling and repeating random words that Skeet and Scrat said, as usual.

This was his chance!

Hiccup crawled out of his small cave— it was rather narrow, only high enough for him to sit up while inside, but it was great for sleeping— and he ran toward the beach where he'd first discovered the island. He was fast. Really fast. Scrag was forced to hop off his shoulder and fly after him, due to the speed he was running at.

He couldn't get there sooner. Excitement filled him to the brim at the thought of not only meeting new dragons, but possibly going with them. He wanted to go with them, and meet the Bewilderbeast, King of Kings, Protector of Dragons.

He reached the area the Scauldrons were waiting at just slightly out of breath. They were magnificent.

"You're going to see Snow?" was the first thing that left his lips upon being able to speak.

They seemed surprised by the fact that he was a human speaking Dragonese. He'd grown so accustomed to being around dragons who were used to him speaking their language that he'd forgotten most dragons saw it as an oddity.

He chuckled nervously, "Uh, hi. I'm Hiccup."

_**"What a strange creature,"** _one of the Scauldrons said, _**"you must be blessed by the Gods, to have such a rare ability."**_

He deduced that the sea dragon was referring to his ability to speak to dragons. He shrugged, "If that's how you want to look at it."

_**"Why wouldn't we?"**_

"Well, my people would shun me if they knew."

_**"Humans,"**_one of the Scauldrons spat, _**"disgusting creatures."**_

_**"Not you, of course, dear,"** _said another.

He smiled an awkward smile, "It's fine. I barely consider myself one of them anymore."

_**"It's terrible they forced you to feel that way."**_

"I can't really blame them," he shrugged, "it's not really their faults that they don't know any better."

After the brief conversation, the Scauldrons asked him about his desire to get off the island. Evidently, the Terrors had mentioned it to them. He explained how he'd been stuck on the island for the past three years, and how badly he wanted to get out and find adventure. One of the Scauldrons remarked that it was sad, like a dragon that had lost one of his tail fins. They offered to allow him to travel with them, by riding on their backs.

After saying farewell to Darlath and the other dragons of the island, Hiccup left with the Scauldrons to travel to Snow's lair.

* * *

It was nearly evening when they left. Despite the darkening skies, Hiccup could still see quite clearly. He'd begun to adapt to night life, strangely enough, which was quite the oddity when he'd been living alongside diurnal dragons. They never questioned his living habits, so long as he didn't disturb their own, but he knew they thought it quite strange.

The Scauldron he rode on the back of was forced to swim at the surface of the sea, unlike his fellow Scauldrons that were able to submerge themselves beneath the water, as they were accustomed to. Hiccup had told him that he could hold his breath for a very long time, even for a human, but the Scauldron insisted that he wasn't taking any chances.

As they left the island, Hiccup could have sworn he saw the murky shadow and glowing green eyes of Doom in the distance, watching over him. He couldn't stop himself from lifting up a hand to wave in farewell.

To his astonishment, he saw an inky black tail break the surface of the water and wiggle around a little, as if waving back.

* * *

It took about two days for the Scauldrons to swim to Snow's lair. As they grew closer, Hiccup noticed a drastic climate shift, and hugged the Scauldron more tightly in an attempt to keep warm.

The Scauldrons were taking an underwater entrance, so the one giving him a ride flew him up to an entrance high above before it flew back down.

This particular entrance was really small, not much larger than he himself. He slipped through, following a narrow tunnel through to where he knew Snow's lair would be. It was quite the long trek, but once he'd made it to the inside, he stopped in awe.

It was... _beautiful_.

He was soon smiling. Yes, beautiful was the word.


	5. Author's Note

_**I feel the need to apologize for and explain my extended absence after I was updating somewhat consistently, only to cease any updates for such a long time.**_

_**I have not dropped this fic. I do want to continue working on it, so long as people still want to see a continuation.**_

_**There has been a lot of drama lately, and because of that, I haven't really gotten around to working on another chapter. I had a rather nasty breakup, which is neither here nor there, but is part of the cause. I also found out that my great grandfather is on his deathbed, which is a heavy weight on my shoulders.**_

_**Again, I have not discontinued this fic. I really do want to continue working on it. Working on this fic when I first started it brought happiness into my day, and I'd love to continue it when I can get settled down enough to focus on it.**_


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